NEW DELHI: The Congress leadership in Delhi appears to have mellowed its stand against the possibility of an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the national capital.
After maintaining a stoic ‘no’ to a tie-up for the elections for over two weeks, leaders of the local unit including its chief Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday said that they would abide by the decision of Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
“I have left it to the Congress high command and whatever they decide I will go by it. I believe the Congress is in a position to fight with the workers on its own,” Dikshit said.
The state Congress functionaries said the possibility of the alliance could not be ruled out completely as Sharad Pawar, president of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has intervened in the matter.
“Recently, Farooq Abdullah, chairman of Jammu and Kashmir National Conference spoke to Dikshit and Gandhi separately urging them to join hands with AAP in Delhi. AAP’s Sanjay Singh met Pawar and held discussions over seat-sharing with the Congress,” said the Congress leader.
“The party can be saved later... there will be enough time to save the party. Right now the attempt should be to save the country and democracy, which is in danger due to the Modi government,” said Sanjay, without giving details of the meeting.
“Pawarji is an important ally in Mahagathbandhan. He is actively involved in bringing both parties back to the negotiation table. Talks were revived after Pawar started mediation,” said a Delhi Congress functionary.
Dikshit and three working presidents — Haroon Yusuf, Rajesh Lilothia, and Devendra Yadav — had reportedly written to Gandhi against a coalition with AAP last week after the Central leadership conducted a survey of grass root level workers to seek their views on a possible pre-poll alliance in Delhi.
The Lok Sabha elections in Delhi are slated for May 12.